


How Can I Miss You If You Won't Go Away?

by cmk418



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-02-13
Updated: 2011-02-13
Packaged: 2021-03-12 21:07:03
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,347
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28641942
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cmk418/pseuds/cmk418
Summary: After the wedding that wasn't, Xander hops a plane to England.  He isn't as successful hopping a plane back.
Relationships: Rupert Giles/Xander Harris
Kudos: 1





	How Can I Miss You If You Won't Go Away?

Giles sat on the sofa, unable to focus. He kept thinking of that moment at the airport this morning. Standing on the curb at the departures area and watching Xander shuffle his feet for a moment before giving Giles the briefest of hugs and heading toward the international terminal.

_Fool. You could have said what you wanted to say. You could have told him that you were delighted he called off the blasted wedding. You could have told him that you were glad he decided to come to you instead of anyone else. Hell, you could have told him you’d miss him at least._

Giles’ head lifted at the soft knock on the front door. “Just a moment,” he called out as he placed the glass of scotch on the coffee table and half-stumbled to the door.

He opened the door and breathed the name of the person standing in front of him. “Xander.”

“Flight got cancelled,” Xander said, stepping past him, into the flat. “Is it okay if I stay here another day?”

“Of course.”

“They gave me a ticket for tomorrow. I could take a taxi to the airport if you need me to.”

“Don’t be silly. It’s no trouble.” _No trouble at all, sitting on my hands and trying to be a saint for the next twenty-four hours._

“Good. Do you mind if I call Willow? She was going to meet my flight.”

“Certainly.”

“Thanks, Giles.”

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

“Giles! Shit, shit, shit.”

There was a ruckus going on in the hall outside his bedroom. Giles could never understand how a single person could make so much noise.

“What is it, Xander?”

“My plane ticket. I thought it was for ten a.m., but it’s not.”

Giles reached for his glasses. “What time does your plane depart?”

“Um… in half an hour.”

“Xander! I’m not even dressed yet.”

“Really?”

“How could you confuse seven thirty with ten a.m.?”

“I thought the ticket guy said ten.”

“You didn’t look at your tickets?” Giles rubbed his head.

“Are you mad at me?” Xander said, through the closed door.

Giles let out an exasperated sigh. “No, Xander. I am not mad at you. Call the airport, see if they can reschedule you for another flight today.”

“All right.”

_Please, God, let them reschedule him for another flight today._

“I’ll be down in a moment.”

Giles heard Xander’s footsteps moving softly back down the stairs. Giles got out of bed, pulled on some pajama bottoms and headed downstairs into the living room.

“Well?”

“The next flight out with connections to Sunnydale is tonight at six. They can only put me on standby though.”

“All right. We’ll try it. You’ll have to notify Willow of your change in plans.”

“Yeah. Okay,” said Xander.

Something occurred to Giles then. “What time did you tell Willow to expect you?”

“I didn’t. I had four connections and the possibility of missing one or two was enough that I wasn’t going to call her until the last leg.”

Giles nodded. He wasn’t completely satisfied with the explanation, but it did make sense.

“Huh. Maybe the New York flight was at ten.”

Giles rubbed his forehead again. This was going to be a very long day.

“Call Willow,” he said, disappearing into the kitchen to make some very strong coffee.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Giles glanced at the door every thirty seconds as he’d done for the past ninety minutes. The flight had departed on time; he’d checked on that. Whether or not standby passenger Xander Harris was on board remained to be seen. He’d made Xander promise to call him as soon as the plane landed in New York, so he had several hours longer to wait.

The waiting he was used to. Five years of waiting to hear that his Slayer made it home safely from patrol, it was second-nature to him.

This was different. He’d been granted an extra day and a half. How selfish did he have to be if-

 _Thank the gods,_ thought Giles when he heard the knock at his door.

A harried-looking Xander was outside. “One little remark,” Xander said, stepping into the flat and dropping his bags on the floor. “One little remark and I spend the next two hours in a tiny room being interrogated. “All I said that no one would ever suspect me of anything. How was I supposed to know that that would make me an instant suspect? They strip-searched me, Giles. And not in the good and fun way that Anya used to. I need to take a shower.”

Giles’ brain had short-circuited at the mention of a strip-search, so he just nodded and Xander took that as a sign to head upstairs.

Giles put his head in his hands and sighed. What seemed like a good idea only moments ago, now seemed like another exercise in frustration.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

“Were you able to get scheduled for another flight?”

“Um… I was kinda escorted out. I didn’t have any time to stop and talk to any ticket agents.”

“All right. We’ll approach this again in the morning.”

“I know you have things to do. Like, you know, unpack. Why haven’t you unpacked anything?”

 _Because I keep hoping that some emergency will come up and I’ll be needed again._ “There’s nothing in those boxes that I urgently need.”

“But you might need use of your guest room. I’m not saying that your sofa isn’t very comfortable, but if I could be sleeping on an actual bed, it might be nice.”

“You could be.” The words slipped out before he could corral them.

“Great. So let’s get you unpacked.”

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Giles liked his flat. He liked it the way it was. It was home. It was London. It didn’t have effects from what seemed like a previous life strewn throughout it.

Xander changed all that. Bits and pieces from the last five years – photographs, the odd coffee mug, more than a few books and artifacts found a home in his flat. Everywhere he turned he was confronted with something from Sunnydale.

“There. It’s done,” Xander said. “You’re all moved in.”

“Yes,” replied Giles. “Thank you.”

“Always easier to do that with help.” Xander said, then yawned. “What time is it?”

“Around one.”

“I probably should…”

Giles nodded. “Good night, Xander.”

“’Night, Giles.”

Giles could have sworn he heard the word “Damn” muttered as he closed the door.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Giles was awakened by a soft noise in his bedroom. He rolled over, reaching for his glasses on the nightstand.

“You don’t have to. I mean… it’s okay. I was just leaving you a note.”

“A note?”

“Yeah. I got a flight, called a cab. Figured it was time to give you your house back. You look nice like that, by the way. I didn’t think you’d… I imagined, but… I really have to go. The cab’s probably downstairs and I know there’s the whole British-politeness thing that you’ve guys got going here, but I really don’t want to keep anybody waiting.”

Giles rose to his feet. “You don’t want to keep anybody waiting.”

“That’s what I said.” Xander tried to look anywhere else in the room, but his eyes kept being drawn back to Giles’ bare chest.

“Six years,” Giles whispered.

“I’m sorry?”

“Why are you here now? With me?”

“I told you I was just in here to leave this note.” Xander reached down and took a folded piece of paper from the nightstand. “I’m just gonna…”

Giles sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “If you say ‘go’, I’m just going to have to tackle you on the stairs.”

Xander took a step away from Giles, resting his back against the closed door. “You would?”

“Try me.”

Xander reached for Giles’ hand, pulling him slowly forward. “I intend to.”

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

As they lay tangled in the sheets, Giles said, “Sorry, you missed your flight.”

“Oh, I don’t think it would have worked out. The taxi got a flat tire, you see.”

“How many of these convenient excuses did you have set up?”

“Enough to make up for six years of lost time.”


End file.
